GROUND BRANCH News

One more smaller Community Test patch before the weekend officially starts. We are slowly but surely knocking down the bugs and getting the last few items in for 1033.

Community test updates CL#7540-7570:

• AI barks and Arena audio fixed
  
• IR Strobe plastic material tweaked to be less bright in harsh lighting
  
• Fixed ranger green Fleece Hoodie using olive drab palette
  
• Fixed FOV warning typo
  
• Further tweaks to Flecktarn swatch and assets
  
• Fixed ladders in 747, Docks, Creek and Power Station
• Added bare version of Ghillie Hood
• Cleaned up ghillie items; added OCP skins
  
• Docks: cleaned up bad model geometry, container collision and AI pathfinding
  
• Overly bright vehicle windows fixed in Run Down and other maps
  
• Another pass of attempted crash fixes on the light detector
  
• Fixed ghosting on AN/PEQ-15's IR Illuminator
  
• Improved Chest Rig (MCR) mesh collision
  
• Fixed overly glossy Male 05 skin (scalp and back of neck)
  
• Fixed subway (City) light portals
  
• SCAR magazine now shows more than 2 rounds when mag checking
  
• Added "Bakelite" magazine for 5.45mm AKs
  
• Tac Light flare adjusted to prevent blown out textures
  
• Ready Room audio bleed fixed
  
• SVD reload sounds fixed
  
• Adjustments to which AKs can use which suppressors (WIP)
  

[h3]❓How do I join the open testing?[/h3]
Please see this post for details and instructions.

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

• Improved lighting in Compound main house
  
• Another attempt at fixing weapon light ghosting in night TOD
  
• All OpenXR plugins disabled (should fix some startup issues)
  
• Added Stubby Grip C (Zenitco® RK-0)
  
• Fixed skinning issues with M16A4 and HK416D variants
  
• Added light switch to The Farm indoor shooting range
  
• Fixed up light portal issues in City and Tanker
• Big pass on red dot and holo reticle brightness, making the brights brighter and the darks darker, and fixing sights that couldn't have reticle brightness adjusted
  
• Optimization and replacing of old assets on Docks
• Added AOR-1 akin to Plate Carrier (MPC), both belts and all pouches

Added Ranger Green skin for Combat Pants and Combat Shirts
Added Light Blue skin to Jeans
Pass on Flecktarn skins (appearance, scale and secondary colors)
Pass on M81 skins (appearance, scale and secondary colors)
Added M81 to Plate Carrier (MPC); pouches coming soon
Added several missing skins for various assets (most need tweaking still) and tweaked a handful of others
Tweaked tan skin for Battle Belt (CB) to be more consistent with others
Fixed AK rear sight on most AK-based weapons being off-center
Adjusted forward position of SVD side mount to fix it being permanently in the player's eye
Big pass on skinned decals (patches on shirts)
Fixed red flashing light in Depot appearing as a dark blob when off
Fixed AK-105 not having rail attachment
Added 30-round PMAG (5.56 NATO) in FDE color

Yet another patch released on the V1033 Community Test beta branch!

[h3]❓Not sure how to join the open testing?[/h3]
See this post and start testing V1033 today!

Here's what's new:

• Muzzle flash size/colour/duration improved and tweaked
  
• AKs now eject empty casings rather than full rounds
  
• Bird flock concentration and spawn method tweaked
  
• Incorrect reload sounds and M24 reload sounds fixed, and corresponding audio mixed
  
• Missing shotgun reloads and missing M4 charge bolt sound fixed
  
• Suppressors can now be added to both AKS-74U variants
  
• Autoexposure (eye adaptation) settings adjusted in Ready Room to avoid runaway darkening when looking in dark spots
  
• NVG tweaked to make them more sensitive in the dark and more blown out in the light
  
• Shooting range in The Farm no longer does strange things to muzzle VFX
  
• Levitating grass in Small Town spawn area fixed
  
• White glowing beards fixed
  
• Tentative fix for ghosting reticles when using DLSS
  
• Volumetric fog adjustments (should reduce ghosting when moving weapon lights around at night)
  
• Fog settings tweaked on maps
  
• Lots more light detector system-related crashes fixed
  
• Zero length ProcessCommand() calls muted
  
• Some work done on doors but issues remain
  
• Fixed some lights not being tied to the right power box
  
• GPNVG-18 rejigged to add black skins (some loadouts might break due to changes of name)
  
• New default item build for NVG Head Mount
• Added inventory icons for SCAR Front and Rear Sights, Ballistic Vest and GPNVG-18 variants
  
• Fixed attachments not able to apply to right rail of FAL (Tactical) when AN/PEQ-15 equipped on top ra
  

[h2]Reminder: less than 2 days left on the Steam Winter Sale![/h2]
Quick reminder that the Steam Winter Sale will be over on January 5th — so if you were looking to grab your first GB copy (or that extra copy to gift a friend), hurry up and get it before the 25% OFF tag is gone!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/16900/GROUND_BRANCH/

We just pushed another patch to the V1033 Community Test beta branch!

[h3]⚠️ Crash reports needed![/h3]
We have identified various random crashes that may or may not be related to changes specific to this patch. Your reports can help us zero in on the sources of the crashes to get them fixed ASAP — but we won't know how widespread or common they are without releasing the patch and getting more players testing.

So please be patient and report in your crashes (using the UE4 crash reporting tool that pops up immediately upon crashing to desktop) if you come across any. With all the data, a fix is likely to come very soon. Thank you!

Here's the changelog:

• Added missing Netherlands country patch
  
• Match defaults now set to continuous for all game mode types (no restarting after each round)
  
• Time of Day-related crashes tentatively fixed
  
• PKM updated: pose, recoil and animations
  
• MK46 recoil updated
  
• Light detector updated to take sunlight and skylight into account, so AI should see you in daylight again
  
• Skylight override volumes fixed up
  
• Saved loadout kit bug fixed (couldn't load presets)
  
• Tentative fix for players not being able to change their own team elements on servers
  
• SAVE button disabled when editing default builds/kits
  
• Items without attachments now get a proper save name
  
• Backup iron sights (BUIS) are listed only once in a save name (no more BUIS+BUIS)
  
• Patches of incorrect dimension are shown with "Bad Size" indicator in patch selector and cannot be selected
  
• Tentative crash fix for light detector component EndPlay()
  
• Floating glass mesh removed from Compound
• Crash fixes relating to player state
  
• Tentative fix for no player numbers shown in Server Browser
  
• 16-character limit for player names now properly enforced; file system characters are also removed now
  
• Resupplying from locker/workbench while wearing NVG no longer leaves NVG overlay around regular vision
  
• Fixed collision on tunnel walls in Storage Facility
• Added ability to equip side rail mount for AK-74M and Wz.88
• Wz.88 and all AKs should be able to use suppressors now
  

Thanks for all the feedback and be sure to keep the reports coming!

Happy 2023!

[h3]❓Not sure how to join the open testing?[/h3]
See this post and start testing V1033 today!

This patch should cover a few major bugs and crashes, as well as take care of some smaller issues that were easy enough to tackle:

• Various audio bugs fixed
  
• M24 sniper rifle: implemented reload sounds and updated suppressed and unsuppressed sounds
  
• Screen-Space Global Illumination (SSGI) turned off for "Low" and "Medium" post-process settings
  
• Loadout apocalypse: all loadouts kit version numbers increased, so all old loadouts will no longer be visible or loadable in V1033. This will hopefully fix some kit-related crashes and issues with cloud saves; more fixing to come!
  
• Full Beard applied after Balaclava is equipped will no longer keep displaying beard in Customize Operator screen
  
• NVG Head Mount can now be customized properly (can attach GPNVG-18, Headset etc.)
  
• German localization will no longer be displayed (was just a test thing that stuck around)
  
• Callsigns can now include hyphens (-)
  
• Callsign swear filter updated a little
  
• Updated patch categories/folders to Country, Blood Type, Role and Morale
• Patch selection dialog no longer displays duplicate category names for modded patches
  
• Overly bright plant in Compound map fixed
  
• Incorrect display name for PMM pistol magazine changed (already had 12 rounds, but said 8)